Mumbai, January 23
The BSE Sensex closed in positive territory today as the bears took a breather following a 0.75 per cent rate cut by the US Fed at an emergency meeting, hours before the markets opened in Asia.

Though the rate cut did not prevent the Dow from plunging further, markets across Asia were in the green. The Sensex and the Nifty also followed suit, closing 5.17 per cent and 6.21 per cent, respectively.

The Sensex gained 864 points to close at 17,594 levels while the Nifty closed at 5,203 after gaining 304 points. Analysts attributed much of today's gains to short covering by bears who shorted the Sensex in a big way yesterday.

Experts have also warned of bigger falls if the situation in the US worsens. There was buying across the board with real estate, metal, oil and gas indices closing in the green.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was the biggest gainer, closing 10.72 per cent higher. Japan's Nikkei and South Korea's Kospi also closed 1.21 per cent higher.

Among the major Sensex gainers were Reliance Energy, NTPC, Satyam Computers, TCS, Reliance Industries and BHEL, which closed more than 8.09 per cent higher.

Among sectoral indices, the BSE real estate index was the biggest gainer, closing 11.49 per cent or 1,094 points higher. Omaxe was the biggest gainer. Others like Peninsula Land and Mahindra Life Space closed 41.05 per cent and 27.50 per cent higher, respectively.

Investors have, however, still not recovered from the mayhem on the bourses since Monday that saw a record 2,284-point (12 per cent) fall in the BSE 30-share index.

They were concerned about heavy outflows in the last few days. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) pulled out over Rs 12,500 crore in five days between January 16 and 22. But, they bought shares worth Rs 7,670 crore in the Futures and Options on Tuesday.

Analysts, too, welcomed the pullback, saying "markets were clearly in an oversold zone."

Meanwhile, market participants expressed cautious optimism and said the global cues will play a crucial role to determine the future direction of the market.